''Amaryllis'' () is the only
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
in the
subtribe Amaryllidinae (
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
Amaryllideae
Amaryllideae are a tribe of subfamily Amaryllidoideae (family Amaryllidaceae). They are herbaceous monocot perennial flowering plants with a predominantly Southern African distribution, with the exception of the pantropical genus ''Crinum''. They ...
). It is a small genus of flowering
bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
s, with two species. The better known of the two, ''Amaryllis belladonna'', is a
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
of the
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
region of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, particularly the rocky southwest area between the
Olifants River Valley and
Knysna
Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...
.
For many years there was confusion among botanists over the generic names ''Amaryllis'' and ''Hippeastrum'', one result of which is that the common name "amaryllis" is mainly used for
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
s of the genus ''
Hippeastrum
''Hippeastrum'' () is a genus of about 90 species and over 600 hybrids and cultivars of perennial herbaceous bulbous plants. They generally have large fleshy bulbs and tall broad leaves, generally evergreen, and large red or purple flowers. ...
'', widely sold in the winter months for their ability to
bloom indoors.
Plants of the genus ''Amaryllis'' are known as belladonna lily, Jersey lily, naked lady, amarillo, Easter lily in Southern
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
or, in South Africa, March lily due to its propensity to flower around March. This is one of numerous genera with the common name "lily" due to their flower shape and growth habit. However, they are only distantly related to the true lily, ''
Lilium
''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...
''. In the Victorian Language of Flowers (see
Plant symbolism
Various folk cultures and traditions assign symbolic meanings to plants. Although these are no longer commonly understood by populations that are increasingly divorced from their rural traditions, some meanings survive. In addition, these meanings ...
), amaryllis means "pride, determination and radiant beauty".
Description
![Amaryllis belladonna flowers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Amaryllis_belladonna_flowers.jpg)
''Amaryllis'' is a
bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
ous plant, with each bulb being in diameter. It has several strap-shaped,
hysteranthous
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
, green
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
with
midrib
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
, long and broad, arranged in two rows.
Each bulb produces one or two leafless, stout, persistent and erect stems 30–60 cm tall, each of which bears at the top a cluster of two to twelve
zygomorphic
Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts.
Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...
, funnel-shaped
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s without a tube. Each flower is diameter with six spreading
tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s (three outer sepals, three inner petals, with similar appearance to each other). The usual color is white with crimson veins, but pink or purple also occur naturally.
Stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s are very shortly
connate basally,
declinate
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
, unequal.
Style
Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to:
* Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable
* Design, the process of creating something
* Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
is declinate,
stigma is three-lobed.
Ovule
In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the fe ...
s are approx. 8 per
locule
A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus).
In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...
. Seeds are compressed-globose, white to pink. Number of
chromosome
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
s is 2''n'' = 22.
[
]
Taxonomy
The single genus is in
subtribe Amaryllidinae, in the tribe
Amaryllideae
Amaryllideae are a tribe of subfamily Amaryllidoideae (family Amaryllidaceae). They are herbaceous monocot perennial flowering plants with a predominantly Southern African distribution, with the exception of the pantropical genus ''Crinum''. They ...
. The taxonomy of the genus has been controversial. In 1753
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
created the name ''Amaryllis belladonna'', the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
of the genus ''Amaryllis''. At the time both South African and South American plants were placed in the same genus; subsequently they were separated into two different genera. The key question is whether Linnaeus's type was a South African plant or a South American plant. If the latter, ''Amaryllis'' would be the correct name for the genus ''
Hippeastrum
''Hippeastrum'' () is a genus of about 90 species and over 600 hybrids and cultivars of perennial herbaceous bulbous plants. They generally have large fleshy bulbs and tall broad leaves, generally evergreen, and large red or purple flowers. ...
'', and a different name would have to be used for the genus discussed here.
Alan W. Meerow
Alan W. Meerow is an American botanist, born in New York City in 1952. He specializes in the taxonomy of the family Amaryllidaceae and the horticulture of palms and tropical ornamental plants. He also works on the population genetics and mole ...
et al. have briefly summarized the debate, which took place from 1938 onwards and involved botanists on both sides of the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
. The outcome was a decision by the 14th International Botanical Congress in 1987 that ''Amaryllis''
L. should be a conserved name (i.e. correct regardless of priority) and ultimately based on a specimen of the South African ''
Amaryllis belladonna
''Amaryllis belladonna'', the Jersey lily, belladonna-lily, naked-lady-lily, or March lily, is a plant species native to Cape Province in South Africa but widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is reportedly naturalized in many places: Corsica, ...
'' from the
Clifford Herbarium at the
Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
in London.
Species
, ''Amaryllis'' had only two accepted species, both native to the
Cape Provinces
The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sout ...
of South Africa:
*''
Amaryllis belladonna
''Amaryllis belladonna'', the Jersey lily, belladonna-lily, naked-lady-lily, or March lily, is a plant species native to Cape Province in South Africa but widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is reportedly naturalized in many places: Corsica, ...
''
L. – south-west Cape Provinces; introduced into many parts of the world, including California, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand
*''
Amaryllis paradisicola''
Snijman – west Cape Provinces
Phylogeny
Amaryllidinae are placed within Amaryllideae as follow:
These are phylogenetically related as follows:
Etymology
The name ''Amaryllis'' is taken from a shepherdess in
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
's pastoral ''
Eclogues
The ''Eclogues'' (; ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil.
Background
Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offer ...
'', (from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
('), meaning "to sparkle").
Although the 1987 decision settled the question of the scientific name of the genus, the common name "amaryllis" continues to be used differently. Bulbs sold as amaryllis and described as "ready to bloom for the holidays" belong to the allied genus ''
Hippeastrum
''Hippeastrum'' () is a genus of about 90 species and over 600 hybrids and cultivars of perennial herbaceous bulbous plants. They generally have large fleshy bulbs and tall broad leaves, generally evergreen, and large red or purple flowers. ...
''. The common name "naked lady" comes from the plant's pattern of flowering when the foliage has died down. This name is also used for other bulbs with a similar growth and flowering pattern; some of these have their own widely used and accepted common names, such as the resurrection lily (''
Lycoris squamigera
''Lycoris squamigera'', the resurrection lily or surprise lily, is a plant in the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. It is also sometimes referred to as naked ladies (a name used for several other plants). It is nati ...
'').
Habitat
In areas of its native habitat with mountainous
fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...
flowering tends to be suppressed until after bush fires as dense overhead vegetation prevents growth. In more open sandy areas of the Western Cape, the plant flowers annually.
Plants tend to be very localized in dense concentrations due to the seeds' large size and heavy weight. Strong winds shake loose the seeds, which fall to ground and immediately start to germinate, aided by the first winter rains.
Ecology
The leaves are produced in the autumn or early spring in warm climates depending on the onset of rain and eventually die down by late spring. The bulb is then dormant until late summer. The plant is not frost-tolerant, nor does it do well in tropical environments since they require a dry resting period between leaf growth and flower spike production.
One or two leafless stems arise from the bulb in the dry ground in late summer (March in its native habitat and August in
USDA zone 7).
The plant has a
symbiotic
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
relationship with
carpenter bee
Carpenter bees are species in the genus ''Xylocopa'' of the subfamily Xylocopinae. The genus includes some 500 bees in 31 subgenera. The common name "carpenter bee" derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant m ...
s. It is also visited by
noctuid moths at night. The relative importance of these animals as pollinators has not yet been established;
however, carpenter bees are thought to be the main pollinators of amaryllis on the
Cape Peninsula
The Cape Peninsula ( af, Kaapse Skiereiland) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of ...
. The plant's main parasite is the lily borer
''
Brithys crini'' and/or ''
Diaphone eumela
''Diaphone eumela'', the cherry spot or lily borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Angola.
Like its relative, '' Brithys crini'', this noctuid is found almost exclusively on pl ...
''.
Cultivation
![Flore des serres v14 053a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Flore_des_serres_v14_053a.jpg)
''Amaryllis belladonna'' was introduced into cultivation at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It reproduces slowly by either bulb division or seeds and has gradually naturalized from plantings in urban and suburban areas throughout the lower elevations and coastal areas in much of the West Coast of the US since these environments mimic their native South African habitat. Hardiness zones 6–8. It is also naturalized in Australia.
There is an ''Amaryllis belladonna'' hybrid which was bred in the 1800s in Australia. No one knows the exact species it was crossed with to produce color variations of white, cream, peach, magenta and nearly red hues. The hybrids were crossed back onto the original ''Amaryllis belladonna'' and with each other to produce naturally seed-bearing crosses that come in a very wide range of flower sizes, shapes, stem heights and intensities of pink. Pure white varieties with bright green stems were bred as well. The hybrids are quite distinct in that the many shades of pink also have stripes, veining, darkened edges, white centers and light yellow centers, also setting them apart from the original light pink. In addition, the hybrids often produce flowers in a fuller circle rather than the "side-facing" habit of the "old-fashioned" pink. The hybrids are able to adapt to year-round watering and fertilization but can also tolerate completely dry summer conditions if need be.
''A. belladonna'' has gained the
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...
's
Award of Garden Merit
The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
History
The Award of Garden Merit ...
.
''Amaryllis belladonna'' has been crossed in cultivation with ''
Crinum moorei
''Crinum moorei'' is a herbaceous plant belonging to the family Amaryllidaceae, and native to South Africa (the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal).
Taxonomy Synonyms
*Homotypic
**''Amaryllis moorei'' (Hook.f.)
*Heterotypic
**''Crinum imbricatum' ...
'' to produce a hybrid called
× ''Amarcrinum'', which has named cultivars. Hybrids said to be between ''Amaryllis belladonna'' and ''
Brunsvigia josephinae
''Brunsvigia josephinae'', commonly called Josephine's lily or candelabra lily, is a deciduous, subtropical species of ''Brunsvigia'' originating from South Africa. It is marked by deep pink to red flowerheads which are about 12 to 15 inches lon ...
'' have been called × ''Amarygia''. Neither hybrid genus name is accepted by the ''World Checklist of Selected Plant Families''.
[, search for "Amarcrinum" and "Amarygia"]
See also
*
List of plants known as lily Lily usually refers to herbaceous plants of the genus ''Lilium'', with large showy trumpet-shaped flowers. Many species are cultivated as ornamentals.
Many other plants not closely related to lilies are called lilies, usually because their flowers ...
References
Bibliography
*
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*
{{Authority control
Amaryllidoideae
Amaryllidaceae genera
Christmas plants
Garden plants of Africa
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus